Tsuki
by Velourianisms
Summary: The moon... so pretty, and so far away... if only he could be far away from the village, too.
1. Chapter 1

_**So hey, guys. This is my first story in the Naruto fandom, and I'm incredibly anxious as I am happy. This is hardly your normal fic. Naruto is a lot different and so is many other characters. While I have the intention of making this a Kakashi/Naruto story, it may take a while to get there. In this story Naruto is in a lot of emotional pain and has a bad time in the village. He's not entirely light, because of his background. I won't make him more powerful than what we've seen in the anime, because that's honestly so boring. It will content a bunch of triggers, so be warned.**_

* * *

 _Pain. That was the only thing he could focus on. Excruciating pain, going from the tip of his toes to the last strand of blond hair. Had he been able to snap out his trance, he could've heard the gut-wrenching screams leaving his mouth— alas, Naruto wasn't able to see what was right before him._

 _He couldn't smell anything. In fact, he doubted he was actually breathing. Even though his fingers tugged at his own clothes almost maniacally, his brain failed to register the sensation._

 _Was this Hell? It had to be._

 _He couldn't do this. Someone, please kill him. Please, please kill him..._

 _Suddenly he saw a shock of raven hair and—_

Naruto woke up with a shaky gasp, reaching out instinctively. His eyes were still shut tightly, and he panicked when he couldn't open them right away. Was the still dreaming? No, his body was just fucking with him.

He rubbed his eyes tiredly and looked at the clock on the bedside table, having to blink a few times before actually registering the hour in his mind.

 **4:33 am.**

The blonde groaned aloud at the ridiculousness of the situation and forced himself to relax on the bed, fingers flexing ever so slightly as if to reassure himself that he was indeed alright. Living alone was a heavy cross to bear, even more so at the tender age of 12. Not hat he had ever met his parents— all the boy knew about them was that they sacrificed themselves for Konoha.

The same village that now seemed to despise his very existence. The freak, they'd call him. It's like they forgot he even had a name.

Naruto Uzumaki.

What had been a loud, rebellious kid was now a tame one, barely speaking when asked directly and constantly avoiding those eyes.

 _Gods, those hateful eyes..._

His entire body seemed to shake at the mere memory, and baby blue eyes were soon filled with hot tears he so desperately didn't want to shed.

He was so lame, honestly.

Naruto rolled onto his side and curled up into a small ball, lower lip trapped between white teeth so hard he soon tasted the familiar copper in his mouth. While no Konoha elder had hit him, the youth was unforgiving and positively ruthless. At first he had tried to fight the hate with pranks and "good laughs", but he soon learned that it did little to nothing to ease the hatred in so many hearts. He had learned to fear the hands and the eyes to the point Iruka-sensei had to buy groceries for him just so he would stop starving himself because yes, the now genin was that terrified. While he could defend himself fairly well, five against one was clearly a lost cause.

Things at the Academy were hardly better. While he was ignored by most, the only "friend" he had was ashamed to be seen in public in him, and Naruto thought that was more hurtful than being pushed to the side. Shikamaru always apologized, but there was only so much his heart could handle. On random days, he'd bump into a weird kid named Rock Lee, who only smiled at him and gave him a "cool guy pose" as if to encourage him to hold on.

 _You can do it, the fire of eternal youth shall never perish!_

... Or something weird like that. Honestly, no one knew what the Hell Lee was talking about most of the time.

Not that Naruto cared. As long as he didn't said anything hurtful...

Which reminded him why he'd had so much trouble falling asleep that night. The memory made dread to settle in the pit of his stomach and he gulped, cold sweat appearing on his forehead.

Tomorrow he was to meet the leader of Team 7, Kakashi Hatake. The man was a hero among Konoha shinobi, having been a force to be reckoned with during the Third Great Ninja War. He also had the infamous reputation of failing every single genin squad assigned to him.

What if he failed Naruto? He wasn't sure he would be able to deal with the shame.

He hadn't met the man and Naruto found himself completely terrified already. And his team— _holy crap, his team_. Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. It was as if whoever had organized the teams hated him.

Well, mostly everyone did. Shikamaru had expressed his sadness after finding out they wouldn't be in the same team, and Iruka-sensei even treated him some Ichiraku ramen just to cheer him up. They were the only people (other than Sarutobi-sama, the Hokage) who actually cared for him and now he wouldn't see them as often. Instead, he had to deal with a spiteful Sakura and a very arrogant Sasuke. He sighed.

What if Kakashi-sensei hates him as well? His brows furrowed at the thought, and he turned his head to look at the headband Iruka had given him on the small table. Naruto wanted to become a strong shinobi so everyone could recognize his worth— he was quick with his fists but Naruto didn't know any jutsu other than the Kage Bushin no Justu, and even that couldn't save him from most situations.

Sigh. Now that he couldn't fall asleep, might as well train some. Moving to sit upright on the bed, he stretched and looked out the window to admire the moon, shoulders relaxing a bit.

 _So pretty, and so far away... if only he could be far away from the village, too._

Naruto shook his head and got up, quickly grabbing his orange pants and undershirt to change quickly. He left his light gray jacket until the end— as much as he missed his navy and orange jacket, gray helped him not stand out as much. His bright yellow hair and baby blue eyes did enough as it was. He brushed his teeth and tried to tame his wild hair, headband secure around his neck. Breakfast? Toast and some warm milk, making him feel tons better.

Better head out now, he mused after cleaning the dishes, slipping into his ninja sandals and heading out, locking the door behind him.

"Here... we go," he said meekly, walking to the Training Grounds N° 3.


	2. Chapter 2

The field was blissfully empty, and a cool breeze caressed his featured as he approached the three logs placed in the middle of the Training Grounds. Naruto raised his arms over his head, making sure every muscle in his body was properly stretched before training.

Taijutsu was all he could do at the moment. Not that he particularly minded, the way his body seemed to lightly burn after a good day of training was certainly rewarding. He had read about ninjutsu as well as some of the most useful (and admittedly, basic) justus, but he didn't dare to practice them just yet. The time he and Iruka-sensei had fought Mizuki he had produced a good hundred shadow clones ready to beat the life out of him— and, while that had been a good thing at the moment because Iruka hadn't been able to fight, it was obvious he didn't know how to control his chakra just yet.

 _Sigh_.

The last thing the blond wanted was to destroy something and suffer the consequences— not that Hokage-sama would hurt him in any way, but the other shinobi... yeah, not sure about that.

Snapping out of his reverie he dug out a kunai from his holster and charged at the log a few meters away from him.

Naruto liked to think he was a bit faster than most. While he had nothing on Kiba Inuzuka and Rock Lee, he was agile and could probably ( _hopefully_ ) win against Sasuke and the others. He thought that maybe he should adopt Lee's usage of weights around his ankles so he could improve his speed. Maybe even around his wrists and focus on his strength as well.

He needed to get stronger. _Much, much stronger_.

Naruto failed to notice the man observing him from a tree branch not so far away.

* * *

Sweat rolled down his temples and neck, and the blond leaned heavily against the log while trying to catch his breath after almost three hours of training. His face was slightly flushed and his hands were covered in bruises and small cuts— he ignored them as it came with the job. It had to hurt, otherwise how was he going to get better?

Naruto couldn't help but remember his days back at the academy, and a wry smile grazed his slightly chapped lips. He hadn't been the top of the class, but unlike what everyone thought, he hadn't been a complete flop. Just an average student with a slightly above average score record. Shikamaru was a prodigy, so it hadn't been much of a surprise to see his name in the top three list week after week. Naruto sometimes thought the Nara heir had encouraged him to not give up more than he realized.

Now he was on his own. He had to be his own support group.

Naruto sighed. Grabbing the shurikens and kunais scattered all over the place he headed home for a quick shower— the team was supposed to meet in a bit over half an hour, which gave him enough time to get ready. He practically barreled into his house and tugged at his clothes, jumping into the shower without bothering to turn on the hot water.

"Dammit— c-c-cold!" he practically screamed, forcing himself to wash his hair and body as fast as possible so he could get out. Naruto shut his eyes as he scrubbed his scalp almost fiercely, the faint scent of apples hitting his nostrils. Just as his body began to adjust to the temperature he rinsed his hair and stomped out of the shower, repeating his morning routing once more. Well, at least he wouldn't fall asleep.

Now ready he locked the door behind him and jumped onto the rooftop, figuring he'd get to the meeting point much faster that way. Naruto could see Ino Yamanaka and Chōji Akimichi going the opposite direction— probably to meet their own team leader. If he remembered correctly he was... Asuma, right? He turned his head to look where he was heading, vaguely surprised to see Sasuke was already there. They still had ten minutes before Kakashi-sensei showed up. Ignoring the raven-haired boy he came to a stop and leaned quite heavily against the nearest wall, playing with the zipper of his jacket.

Only five minutes later Sakura appeared, glaring at him before walking to Sasuke, trying to engage in small talk. Not that the Uchiha seemed interested in her existence, Naruto noticed vaguely amused. Deciding to keep his distance at all times, the Uzumaki boy looked up at the sky, wondering when will Kakashi-sensei would appear.

They waited... and waited... and, yes, waited. Minutes seemed to drag on painfully slow, and Naruto could sense Sakura's patience was running thin as his own.

"Damn, where is he?! He's supposed to be our sensei!" She exclaimed, arms crossed over her chest and cheeks puffed in annoyance. "She should've been here before all of us, right Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn."

" _Exactly!_ "

Naruto made a face at how loud she was being, but said nothing about it. Sakura was known for being kind of harsh, and the Gods knew he had received more punches from her than he'd care to count.

But— she had made a very valid question.

 _Where was Kakashi-sensei?_

* * *

Naruto could only guess an hour had already passed by, and his stomach began to grumble softly. Damn. He should've eaten before leaving his house. Just as he considered leaving for a bit and buying a carton of milk, someone appeared before them with a rustle of leaves.

"Yo," said the white-haired male, raising one hand and giving them all a smile— or at least that was what he assumed, as the only thing visible was his right eye. It was curved ever so slightly, crinkles appearing around the corners. Naruto merely looked at him, wondering how he managed to look so cool with his face covered like that. "I'm Kakashi Hatake and—"

"You're late," Sasuke interrupted, looking rather pissed off after waiting for so long. Sakura gave a nod, a light frown on his face.

Naruto only blinked and sighed softly, trying not to catch their attention.

"Ah yes, well there was this black cat and I had to take a small detour— they're bad luck..." Kakashi mused out loud, as if just coming up with a believable excuse.

 _"For an entire hour?_ "

"There were many cats," he said simply and Naruto had to snort at that, the corners of his mouth twitching in amusement.

The jōnin looked at him and smiled. "Well then, we'll begin by introducing ourselves with what we like, dislike, and our dream for the future, starting with—"

" _You_ should do it, seeing you took _so long_ to get here." It was Sakura the one who interrupted him this time, and Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. Naruto's curiosity was peaked, and he turned to look at his sensei intently.

"Maa... I already gave you my name, so... I'm a jōnin—" although that was obvious, "I like miso soup with eggplant. I don't like sweets. My dream? Don't have one." Pause. "That's about it. So! Your turn," he said while pointing at Sakura, the only visible eyebrow raised expectantly.

Sakura complained about him not saying anything relevant— thing Naruto happened to agree on— before doing as told, pausing to look at Sasuke when talking about the things she liked and looking at Naruto when she moved on to the ones she disliked. Naruto zoned out after that, growing bored at her rambling.

"Next, the one with a scary face."

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. He simply stated he disliked most things and that he liked being a jerk— but that was Naruto'a brain trying to shut the annoying voice out. But then he mentioned something about revenge not being a dream but an ambition and wanting to kill a certain someone Naruto turned to look at him with a brow furrowed. Sasuke just glared at him.

... Jeez. What a fucked up team they were.

"And last but not least... you." Kakashi turned to look at Naruto, and his face flushed in embarrassment. He thought for a moment before daring to speak.

"I'm... Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen.. and... I don't know if there's anything I dislike," he lied, not wanting to talk about certain issues. The blonde blinked and touched the headband around his arm— he really needed to decide where he should wear it. The black fabric was secured around the jacket, so it wasn't so uncomfortable. "My dream? I want to become someone important." But, he doubted he'd be that for the village.

Sakura laughed at that and even Sasuke sneered before making sure his face was void of expression.

Kakashi just looked at him. Naruto's heart sank until he realized there was no malice in those eyes. He wasn't like them.

But, _why?_

"Now that all that is out of the way..." Kakashi clasped his hands together, effectively cutting the tense mood around the genin squad. "Tomorrow we'll... ah, have an activity. We'll meet at Training Grounds N°3, and— don't eat, I'd hate for you to lose your breakfast." With a devilish smile— or what Naruto thought was a smile behind the mask— their sensei disappeared just like that. The three of them stood there before going their separate ways without exchanging words. Or, Naruto going to find Lee to borrow his weights while Sakura followed Sasuke to Gods know where.

Naruto hopped down the building onto a rooftop before jumping to land in the middle of the street, wondering where Rock Lee could be. As if on cue, he saw Team Gai leave the dango shop, Lee talking to TenTen while Neji Hyūga followed them. Nerves settled in his stomach and he ran to catch up with them hoping (more like praying), the other two wouldn't say anything spiteful.

"Eh.. Lee?" he called out a bit weakly, not so sure if it was a good idea or not. Thankfully the boy heard him and turned around to show him the "cool guy pose", baring all teeth in a smile.

"Naruto-kun, the power of youth is smiling at us today!" He exclaimed perhaps a bit more loudly that necessary, earning a chuckle from TenTen and a sigh from Neji. "How are you?"

"Fine, thank you," Naruto said and offered a crooked smile, hands shoved in his pockets. "I... actually wanted to know if I... err... could borrow your extra set of leg weights." His smile faltered when Neji shot him an incredulous look. Lee, on the other hand, was on the verge of crying.

" _The fire in you is burning, Naruto-kun!_ " He all but screamed, burying his face in the crook of his arm. "Of course you can have them, I'll even train with you!" Naruto shifted uncomfortably, noticing all the people stopping to look at them. "I'll do ten thousand push ups to celebrate!"

"You really... don't have to..." he tried to say, but he was being dragged by a sobbing Lee. Naruto looked at the other members of Team Gai, a panicked look on their face. They simply looked amused. "I—"

"Good luck, you'll need it!" TenTen called out, and if Naruto hadn't been so nervous he would've been surprised at the friendly gesture. Neji even nodded in his direction. His eyes widened. While he had never really talked to them, he had supposed they were like his classmates. This day was _bizarre_ , to say the least.

* * *

They stopped at Lee's house to get the extra pair of leg weights and Lee actually insisted Naruto wore them on their way to the Training Grounds. The ones he was wearing were thirty percent lighter than the ones Lee used, and even then he even had problems with moving his feet. On top of that, Lee all but forced him to hop on rooftops, giving tips on how he should move his ankles to avoid unnecessary spraining. Naruto was starting to regret his decision of asking Lee.

But, at the same time... he was grateful. _Immensely grateful_. Because the only one who had cared to ever practice with him had been Shikamaru. Did that mean Lee was his friend? Or was he simply jumping to conclusions? Lee had always been an odd one, and by the rumors Naruto had heard during the Academy days, Lee had also been laughed at for wanting a shinobi solely specialized in taijutsu.

Weird people tended to seek each other. _Hmm_.

Seeing Naruto had to concentrate on a practically inhuman level to move, he pushed those thoughts aside and focused on jumping between buildings, Lee not moving from his side once. According to him Naruto was doing excellent, and once they arrived to their destination they would have a sparring session. Only taijutsu. Naruto would practice the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu once he was on his own. Perhaps he'd even practice the Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique) and the Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique). If he had mastered the Kage Bunshin, a B-rank jutsu, surely a D-rank one wouldn't prove much of a challenge.

As soon as they got to the empty field Lee made Naruto run with him 50 rounds, and then he even made the blond kick a giant tree a thousand times with each leg. Naruto's legs were shaking by the time we was done, and while Lee had done thrice as much he looked just fine.

 _What kind of Hell-like training did Gai-sensei put him through?!_

Lee allowed Naruto to recover, and then began the light sparring. The older genin was considerate enough to go easy on him, giving pointers every now and then about his defensive and offensive stance, encouraging him to use his full strength on him. Naruto's legs were rather cramped, and even though he was progressing ever so slowly he couldn't feel his legs anymore.

"L-Lee..." he gasped while trying to avoid the punches, hands trying to redirect their direction in hopes to find an opening for him to attack. "I don't think I can—"

Lee stopped and bowed, Naruto doing the same. After giving the "nice guy" pose he relaxed and sat down, bandaged hands resting on his knees. "You've done great today, Naruto-kun. I suggest you only remove them when you sleep and take a shower," he explained, tugging at his leg warmers to show his leg weights, the word « **youth** » engraved in each piece. Naruto snorted softly to himself and Lee even laughed along. "Who knows, maybe one day you'll be faster than me."

"Than you?" Naruto allowed himself to scoff at that before offering a rare grin that had Lee blushing for some weird reason. "I'll be _faster_ than Gai-sensei, just wait and see!"

Soon after Lee left, promising to train with him next week. Naruto laid down and closed his eyes, the sun keeping him warm despite de breeze ruffling his hair. After an hour he had enough stamina to practice some jutsus, making sure he was making the right hand sign with enough speed to be used during a battle. At first the Shunshin no Jutsu was troublesome to say the least, but after a couple of hours Naruto was confident enough to use it if needed. With what was left of his chakra he tried to control how much he put in each clone, not wanting be all weak for not controlling the flow of it.

Whatever Kakashi-sensei had in store for them tomorrow, Naruto would give his all. Determined, the blond ran to his house, testing the weights his... friend? had given him.

Friend...

Huh. _Weird_.

Despite him being thoroughly confused after the events that transpired that day, Naruto managed to sleep like a baby that night.

* * *

 _ **Hello everyone! This is a new chapter after only a day, whaaat? Anyway, hope you like it! Please review! It helps the muse.**_


	3. Chapter 3

Message from the author;

While I appreciate constructive criticism, I think some comments may have gone a bit out of hand. And when I say that I'm being politically correct enough to bite my tongue and be respectful towards the "guests". I'm going to point out a few things:

I've only uploaded two chapters so far. Unless you are my conscience I doubt you are aware of all the ideas I have in mind. So instead of jumping to conclusions I'd appreciate you stick around to see where this goes.

To the person who said I'm only making cheap drama for bashing Sakura and Sasuke: You do realize that in my story not a single adult shinobi has been actively spiteful to Naruto, right? The fact that I made Sakura and Sasuke like this on the second episode does not mean I only want to make a cheap drama. During the first season of the anime Sakura didn't give a shit about Naruto right until they were put into the same team. And even when she offered Naruto her lunch during Kakashi's test she did it mostly because Sasuke did it first, right? Sasuke did it because it was the logical thing to do. He had ignored Naruto for the most part of their Academy years and deemed him as someone inferior. Did I ever say I was going to be irrational and make Sasuke do stupid stuff only because he doesn't want to talk to Naruto? No. That's /you/ assuming things. Character development is bound to happen like in every other story.

Which bring me to my reply to the guest who said no one in Naruto's year hated him. As you've already seen, Team Gai has nothing against Naruto. Naruto is assuming stuff merely from experience. In the anime you've seen a man throw a fake ANBU mask at him after being physically violent for being "disgusting" (or at least, that's what the subtitles revealed). Shikamaru is his friend. And in the anime, when they were all kids Sakura and Ino were not sweethearts around Naruto, especially when he wanted to prove his worth to Sasuke. AGAIN, and this bears repeating: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT US BOUND TO HAPPEN. Meaning yes, things WILL change. Do you honestly expect Sakura and Sasuke to act the same after Naruto opens up and shows the pain he has endured all those years?

Regarding my other reviews: thank you. Thank you so much for being able to write a constructive review instead of being downright rude after reading two chapters of a silly story. You guys made me feel better after reading the last two reviews I got.

So, that's it. I'm still upset and rather hurt after reading some of the things the guests have said, but it'll be alright. I'll probably upload later this week.


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